In Jurgen Klopp’s third season with Borussia Dortmund he lifted the Bundesliga title and won German football’s Manager of the Year.
You can’t foresee the same happening in his third season with Liverpool however, where they are currently ninth in the Premier League on 13 points, three points off the top four, after the first nine games, having lost 4-1 away to Tottenham on Sunday.
He transformed Borussia from being 13th in the league before he joined, to finishing sixth, fifth and then first, before going on to win five titles (two leagues and three cups), as well as reaching the Champions League final in 2013, losing to Bayern Munich, before leaving in 2015.
Liverpool were seen to be a similar club and his initial eighth-place league finish — down two places from the position they finished the season before he joined (sixth) — was offset by the fact they reached two finals in his first season at Anfield, losing both the Europa League and League Cup.
That initial promise, that he could recreate a Dortmund miracle on Merseyside, was sort of backed up by a fourth-place finish last season, getting them back into the Champions League.
But it was always going to be this season, his third at the club, and the year in which things started to fall into place at Dortmund, that his appointment could be truly judged. And at the moment it doesn’t look like his much-hyped arrival has worked.
Despite having now had five transfer windows to sort things out, their defence is still highly suspect, having conceded the sixth biggest total in the league, so far this season.
Put simply, after draws with Watford and Burnley and drubbings by Manchester City and Tottenham, Klopp really needs to start getting something out of this season in order to ensure his survival.
Top four, with a League Cup or FA Cup win, and an extended run in the Champions League, where they are currently top of their group on goal difference, would meet the mark, but they look nowhere near achieving that.
It’s a shame because Klopp’s personality and charisma almost perfectly matches the club, and his passion brought so much promise initially. Even a little part of Liverpool’s biggest rivals would have wanted to see him succeed there.
If it doesn’t work out, it’s the death of dream for Liverpool fans who had pinned their hopes almost entirely on Klopp being their saviour.
He could still stick around a while, because he’s too expensive to pay off and such an affable character. But no one gets three seasons in football anymore without tangible success, least not at a club as hungry for success as Liverpool. And going backwards, as they appear to be doing now, just isn’t acceptable. The question is, if this does go wrong, who do Liverpool get in now? And where does Klopp, who was at one-time mentioned as a shoe-in for the Germany job, go to resurrect his career?
